Slashdot Mirror
Real Open Source Applications for Education?
openeducation writes "I have been researching open source solutions for K-12 education pretty heavily for the past year and have been disappointed to find no real alternatives to the large administrative applications like student information systems, data warehouse, ERP, etc. But recently, I ran across Open Solutions for Education. This group appears to be making a serious effort at creating a stack of open source applications that are alternatives to the large and costly commercial packages. Centre, an open source student information system that has been around for a while, is part of the solution stack. They have a data warehouse and are proposing an open source SIF alternative and an assessment solution. While the proof is in the pudding, these guys have working demos and they look pretty good for a first run. K-12 education is in dire financial straits and solutions like these could help with lower TCO. Plus, education is a collaborative industry already, which makes it a good fit for open source."
Because technology makes certain demonstrations easier, makes it easer to do the math of calculating grades, makes it easier to keep track of information, makes it easier to access information, makes it easier for students to do homework, and because it's a good idea for the curriculum to give some practical skills.
SRSLY.
I speak for everyone.
The book industry is a huge SCAM.
Writing open english,math,science and more advanced books would help the pocketbook and make education more affordable.
Hell,there are cheaper books at Barnes and Noble & Borders than the bookscams pushed by the schools.
Even exporting from MS Office to MS Office is just too risky. With the formatting differences between different versions of MSWord, it's amazing they accept .doc at all. I think that PDF should be the standard for submitting assignments. It's open, and there's no need to worry about formatting errors, or the professor accidentally pressing a key and creating spelling errors.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Education is an industry that cares about TCO? What's next, a principal getting fired by the board because he puts student education over shareholder value? The curriculum being reduced to stuff not relying on resources like books and experiments because cheaper teaching = higher ROI? Seriously, when education is being seen as an industry that's a sign of seriously screwed up values.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
There is a comment that is out of touch. Teachers do not get paid that much, especially considering the level of education, continuing education, work requirements and out of pocket professional expenses most teachers have. My wife is an assistant manager of a small woman's clothing store. SHe makes more money than most teachers do!
No, the problem with where the money goes in education has very little to do with how much teachers get paid. It has something to do with unfunded mandates and administrative overhead. Have you ever sat down and read through your local school systems annual budget. I have. It is interesting reading. Those little things like you will provide all day kindergarden, but you have to come up with the money. Things like you will provide free meals, and we will provide half the money. Sports are another big money item. In most cases, they cost far more than they bring in (including football, basketball and baseball). Then, for many schools, there are now security issues - normally at the locations that have the least available to spend anyway.
On top of that, there is all of the required record keeping. Do you have any idea how much that costs? And, there are special education children that can cost as much as 100 times that of a normal student - in our system, they used to be left out. It is good to include them, but the money has to come from somewhere. In many US schools now, we have a problem with non-english speaking students and parents. That adds another large cost.
The list goes on and on and on... Many teachers work as much in 8 months as most people do in 16 months. They work when at school, they work before hours, the work after hours, they work on weekends. They put up with stupid parents (someday, a group of teachers ought to write a book about the parents they have to deal with) and their children. They keep trying. Most of them for less than 60% of what a person with a similar educational background would earn. Here, a starting teacher is in the low $20k with a masters degree.
And if you think teaching is easy, you really need to try doing it for a few years. It is one of the hardest jobs you can take up. Most people judge teachers by what they saw while being a student. Kind of like judging an iceberg by that little part that sits above water.
InnerWeb
Freud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.